Dog Training
by ViciousFilly
Summary: Iruka-centric. Potentially linked to other fics/ideas. Iruka meets Hana Inuzuka in the woods during her recess. They’ve both lost something important, and perhaps each can help the other heal.
1. Offer

Title: Dog Training

Author: Me

Pairing: Um. None. blinkblink

Summary: Iruka-centric. Oneshot? Potentially linked to other fics/ideas. Iruka meets Hana Inuzuka in the woods during her recess. They've both lost something important, and perhaps each can help the other heal.

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its subsidiaries belong solely to Kishimoto-san. To my knowledge.

Laughter danced upon the wind as children ran about the playground. They yelled to one another while swarming the jungle-gym that stood in the middle of a sea of sand. Small would-be nin climbed to the top of the swings in an attempt to escape their comrades. Others whooped and hollered, flinging taunts at the kids below from their 'base' on one of the platforms. The Hunters glowered at their classmates above them before going in search of other targets.

There was the occasional flare of chakra and glint of steel from the edges of the playground as some of the more serious students practiced their newest skills. Targets ranged one side of the nearby Academy wall where a smattering of children threw kunai with ease, and varying degrees of accuracy, with the occasional instruction from the teacher overseeing the surrounding activity.

Nearby, a boy, only a little older than those playing, lent on one of the fence rails lining the playground's boundaries. The green vest and hitai-ate tied about his forehead marked him a Leaf Chuunin. He was slouched forward, chin resting in arms folded along the top railing as he stared at the jungle-gym. Glazed brown eyes scanned across the playing children as a heavy sigh issued forth from hidden lips.

_Why…? _But he aborted the thought as the tears he'd believed spent threatened to choke him once again. He couldn't even think of her, his teammate…ex-teammate, without overwhelming heartache. The pain, the betrayal. The sacrifice. They were too much to bear. He wasn't ready to face the reality of it yet.

A rustling of leaves drew the boy's attention from his morbid thoughts, and slowly he stood, head cocked as though to better hear. His patience was rewarded by a soft yip and what could have been words. Thankful for the distraction, he quietly worked his way into the trees following the soft noises.

"Fudge," said a soft, lilting voice. It was followed by a whine, and a quiet woof.

Coming around a cluster of trees, the boy found the source of the sounds. A young, dark-haired girl, and three small pups. The girl spun to face him at a growl from the smallest of the gray animals. The twin red marks on her checks said she was Inuzuka, the clan which worked so closely with dogs, and the pups gathered about her must be her partners. The boy stifled a gasp as pain lanced through his heart, and he was thankful that he recovered before she or her dogs took note. _Momi…_

Quickly, she hid her hands behind her back, "Who are you?" She asked with obvious suspicion.

With his arms held slightly out from his sides and a small smile upon his face, the boy stepped fully from behind the brush. "Well," he said speculatively, "I could be an enemy ninja trying to take out the Leaf Village."

"But your wearing our hitai-ate," replied the girl logically and with no little amount of confusion.

"True." The boy pursed his lips in thought, and lidded his eyes to look at the child before him through his lashes. As a hand came up to rub along the scar that ran across his nose, he tried to regain his composure. For a moment, when the girl first turned, he could have sworn that he was looking back through time into his gennin days, but the eyes were wrong. "But that could just be a trick," he continued. "To make you _think _that I'm an ally." A tense silence fell amongst the trees as even the dogs starred at him in wariness.

A grin broke out on the boy's face making him appear younger than he had just moments before, and he flopped down to sit upon the ground. "My name's Umino Iruka. You can call me Iruka. What's yours?"

The girl visibly relaxed, but she remained silent a moment more before responding. "Inuzuka Hana." _She's cautious. Just like…_His lip twitched slightly as Iruka cut off that thought.

"Hana?" The grin widened. "That's a pretty name. Do you write it with the character for 'nose' or 'flower'?"

"Nose," came the reply, but the suspicion was slowly being pushed aside by curiosity. If this boy had been an enemy like he claimed, wouldn't he have killed her already? But why had his mouth turned down like that when she'd said her name? And why did his eyes look so sad? They reminded her of Kaa-sans a couple months ago when her cousin, Toboe-kun, didn't return from a mission. Later she'd found her mother in her room sobbing silently into Kuromaru's ruff.

"Heh." Mirth danced with the hurt in the warm brown eyes, but the boy made no other comment. "And who are these guys," he asked, gesturing to the pups watching him from the girl's feet.

"Haimaru Sankyodai," Hana said proudly. "They're the only triplets in our clan."

"And all three chose you. That's quite an honor." The girl flushed, whether in embarrassment, pride, or a combination of the two, Iruka couldn't tell. "What are their names?"

She blinked, then pointing to each in turn she said, "Nezu, Gin, and Chiri." Was it odd that this kid was the first person Notclan to ask her that?

Arms propped on his knees, Iruka smiled. "What are you doing out here," he asked, glancing briefly at the tree behind the small quartet.

"Practicing," came the defensive reply.

"Really? What are ya workin' on," he asked genuinely curious, although he had his suspicions.

"Nothing." Hana looked down at her zori clad feet, and the smallest pup, Chiri, licked her pant leg comfortingly. Iruka's silence had her shifting uncomfortably before he spoke again.

"If you tell me what it is, I'll help you," he offered. The marks in that tree looked to be made by kunai, but why would she be practicing in the woods alone instead of using the targets like the other students?

Hope and disbelief filled her wide eyes when the girl looked back at him. Wariness crept into her dark eyes when she asked, "Why?"

"Because you remind me of…a friend." Iruka mentally kicked himself for treading so close to the chasm that gaped within him, and hoped the grin he plastered across his face would hide the darker emotions.

"What happened to him?"

Iruka grimaced and dropped his gaze to the ground between them. Apparently he was still worthless when it came to hiding his feelings if even this girl could see them. "She got hurt," he managed around the lump blocking his throat.

"Was it bad," she asked softly. Iruka didn't answer. It was all he could do to force his dry throat to swallow around the lump that seemed lodged in it. His shoulders spasmed in a silent sob that broke its way past his barriers. He was still trying to push back the memories that threatened to overwhelm him when he felt small arms wrap around his neck, and soft, furred bodies press up against him.

Briefly, he wrapped his arms loosely around the girl as he returned her hug, until the ridiculousness of the situation had him laughing and wiping tears from his eyes. Just look at him. Needing comfort from a mere child. Pathetic.

"So, what are you trying to do," he asked as he pushed Hana back gently.

Hana watched as the boy scratched each of the puppies. "I'm practicing something I saw one of my cousins doing," she stated, but then added bitterly, "it's not going so well."

"Well, what did he do?" Hana then described what she'd seen while secretly watching her cousin, Toboe. She had watched in awe as Toboe threw kunai at one target, but the kunai switched trajectory mid distance to hit an entirely _different_ target dead center. "I've been trying to get it right every day since. I thought it was the way he was throwing, but…I don't think that's it."

Iruka smiled slightly. This could be easy to solve, so long as Hana's cousin wasn't using chakra strings. He wasn't much of a puppeteer, but…"Why don't you just ask your cousin?"

Hana looked away to stare fixedly at one of the oaks surrounding them. "He died."

Iruka's smile vanished. _Way to put your foot in your mouth, Umino._ "I'm sorry." Hana only shrugged and shifted uncomfortably, eyes still focused on the tree. Clearing his throat a little self-consciously, Iruka continued, "Ah…do you know if he was using any chakra when you watched him."

Hana scratched her thigh as she thought, then glanced down at the darkest of her pups when he began barking enthusiastically. Bark turned to yelp as one of the other two tackled the first.

"What was that about," he asked when the snarling quieted.

"Gin said Tomoe-kun did use chakra, but Nezu says that he didn't use it all the time. And Chiri here," she continued, poking the smallest pup with her foot, "says to leave him out of it. He was probably too busy sleeping to pay attention." The abused pup heaved a sigh of the greatly beleaguered, his head rising from his paws with the effort.

Iruka couldn't help but smile. "So how's your chakra control?"

"Decent," Hana responded. Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Ignoring her question, he asked another of his own. "And what do you know about ricocheting?" Iruka leaned back so his weight was resting on his arms as he propped himself up.

As she began explaining the basics of that concept, with some verbal stumbling, Iruka realized that he had his work cut out for him if he intended to keep his promise to this girl.

"Right," he began after Hana's knowledge of ricochets had run dry. He looked up at the sky, estimating the time by the sun. "Recess should be about over, so I can't help you much right now," instantly the girl's face fell, "but I can practice with you after classes."

"When I don't have a mission, that is," Iruka quickly amended. "And when I am gone I want you to focus on your chakra control."

"Why both?"

"Well, based on what your friends here have said, I think your cousin was using multiple methods to control his weapons, but we're going to focus on the two most basic." He held up a finger. "One is ricocheting a weapon off one or more objects before hitting a target, and the other," he held up a second finger, "involves infusing a weapon with chakra before throwing it so that you can manipulate in while it's already in motion. That requires some delicate chakra control. And this is going to be a lot of work to learn how to do both these things properly. Are you still willing to learn?"

The rising call of a blue bird had Iruka cocking his head, and Hana and the pups getting to their feet. "That's first call. Class is going to start soon," she continued, starting for the school as her pups bounded about her feet. Pausing she turned back to ask, "Should I meet you here after school?"

Smiling, Iruka nodded, "Yes." Her returning grin lit up Hana's face before she continued walking, her mind already on returning to this place later.

A thought that made the smile vanish as though it had never existed had Iruka calling out and scrambling to his feet just before Hana left the small grotto.

She turned back to look at him once again. "Yes?"

"I'm going to be talking to your instructor to let him know what we're doing." _And maybe get some more ideas. I also intend to talk to your mom, but you don't need to know that_, he thought, but didn't voice. "I also don't want you slacking off with your work. If he tells me your grades are slipping, then I won't be able to work with you on this anymore."

Hana's eyes widened momentarily before she nodded enthusiastically. "Yes!" She turned to leave, but paused as though she wished to say more, so Iruka waited patiently. "It's her."

"I'm sorry," Iruka said genuinely puzzled.

"My teacher. She's a woman."

A chill ran down Iruka's back. He was getting a bad feeling about this. "What's her name?"

A young male voice was heard yelling for the stragglers to hurry up. "Yoko-sensei," she said before running off.

"So the old bat's still alive." Iruka sat down hard. _I thought she had at least retired. _He gulped. Maybe this wasn't going to be such a good idea after all.

To be continued?


	2. Request

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was with dread that Iruka faced the school later on that day. It was a feeling similar to the queer mixture of fear, anxiety, and exhilaration that a shinobi faced before battle. Minus the exhilaration.

The building itself was innocuous enough with its steel gray doors and faded brickwork. Blue curtains billowed from large open windows. No, it was not the school that had a cold sweat prickling across his back, but what was in the school. Or rather _who_.

Yoko-sensei had been teaching wanna-be shinobi since before _his_ pre-gennin days. She was as old as the dirt the school was built on, as impenetrable as the walls that made it, and as vile natured as her namesake. The woman had run Iruka ragged throughout his school years without so much as drawing a harsh breath. Her acerbic wit and the unspoken threat of a tongue-lashing kept students in line. She had been the one teacher he had not been able to drive to the point of madness with his pranks.

And he was preparing to tell her that he wanted to tutor one of her students. It was ridiculous, the mere suggestion that he could teach a pupil of hers something she could not screamed of sheer arrogance.

But he had made a promise.

So, with a conscious straightening of his spine Iruka gathered his courage and strode toward the building's main entrance. The worst Yoko-sensei would do was to verbally fillet him, right? He would still be able to walk out of the school alive. And so long as he tried his hardest to convince her to allow him to teach Hana he could walk away with a spattering of pride. No matter the result. And if she did refuse him, he could always plead his case to Inuzuka-san, though why he should expect her to side with him against Yoko-sensei Iruka couldn't say.

"_Caaww!"_

The sudden cry of a crow startled Iruka into jumping backward while he was only halfway up the academy steps. He slipped and, with a half strangled cry, fell down the few remaining ones to land in a heap at the foot of the stairs his heart beating frantically.

"Never before have I seen so clumsy a shinobi. And a chuunin at that. How did you even make it through the academy, boy?" Came a rough female voice from above Iruka.

Blushing fiercely, Iruka looked up, but he already knew who stood over him. An old woman with steel gray eyes and hair of the same color pulled into a severe bun on the back of her head stood at the top of the steps. A scowl made the already heavy lines of her face seem as deep as cervices in the Hokage Stone.

"Speak up, boy. I haven't got all day. Why are you here?" The crow cried, as though to emphasis her words before swooping down to land on the old woman's shoulder. A narrowing of her eyes and tightening of the grasp on her cane had Iruka leaping to his feet as though struck.

"S-sorry, Yoko-sensei." He swallowed hard, nervous. He'd been hoping for another few minutes to gather himself before facing off with his intimidating former teacher. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about. Well, someone really. Inuzuka Hana. I was talking to her during recess…er, her recess-"

"Follow me," she interrupted, thankfully cutting off Iruka's babbling before he could really get going. "I was about to get a cup of tea." With that she turned on her heel, dislodging the crow who fluttered to a nearby ledge, and strode back into the school, compensating for her slight limp with the wooden cane she'd been clenching while she starred at him.

Iruka followed meekly along in her wake. How did she do this to him? He was a _chuunin_ for crissake. How did this stooped, gnarled, old woman make him feel like a rank _pre_-genin all over again. By the time they had reached the teacher's lounge, a room Iruka had never been privie to before, he was fidgety enough that sitting in the chair offered to him while Yoko-sensei prepared tea was nearly a Herculean task. He had to calm down.

With that in mind he turned slightly away from the old woman to look out at a tree beyond the open window, forcing himself to relax. He drew a deep breath and held it while he counted to three before slowly releasing it in a long, nearly silent sigh. Wind fluttered through the tree leaves with a soft shushing, further easing his tension, and fingers loosened from fists he hadn't realized he'd formed.

A soft _clink_ had him focusing once again on the room he was sitting in and its other occupant just as she was seating herself in a chair across from him. Even with a table between them, the slightly nauseating feeling of frogs hoping about in his stomach returned to Iruka. Hoping to soothe the agitated amphibians, he brought the mug before him to his lips blowing across it gently before taking a cautious sip. Chamomile and honey rolled across his tongue, and Iruka paused in enjoyment for a moment before swallowing. The woman might be a crotchety old bat, but she made really good tea if the evidence before him was anything to go by. Though the choice of tea surely indicated that she had noticed his nervousness. How could she not with him constantly jumping like a jackrabbit at gunshot?

Glancing up, he found Yoko-sensei to be watching him with unreadable eyes over the rim of her own mug. Her face was indecipherable as she set down the drink to fold her hands atop the table. After a pause she said, "Well, are you just going to sit there starring like a slack-jawed buffoon, or are you actually planning on telling me what brought you here?"

Iruka felt his cheeks burning, and dropped his gaze to stare into his tea cup. How should he begin?

"I though you retired," he blurted. Fie, that wasn't what he had meant to say. He looked at her face, assuring himself that she hadn't been offended by his outburst.

She had one eyebrow arched derisively. "That traitorous bastard Nomura…" She halted abruptly as he visibly winced, though Iruka didn't notice. He had forgotten that Momi-chan's dad worked at the Academy. _Had_ worked, he corrected himself. "What did you need, boy," she asked gruffly, and had Iruka not been reliving his personal nightmare, he might have noted a softening in the steel gray eyes regarding him.

Her question pulled him back to the present, and he purposefully shut out all thoughts of the recent weeks. Instead he focused on why he was here: Inuzuka Hana.

"I, uh, met one of your, uh, students today," he began, feeling his blush return. Unconsciously twisting his cup in circles, Iruka continued. "She's, um…she's working on some throwing techniques. And I was thinking that I could…well uh, help her out. With her training." He was babbling again. He could feel his blush creeping around the back of his neck. "That's only if it's okay with you, of course, and her mom," he finished in a rush. His face was on fire. Iruka had a feeling that, were the lights off, he would be glowing. He didn't think his face could get any redder.

"Who?" was the arch response. He must have forgotten to tell Yoko-sensei who he was talking about. Iruka felt his ears begin to burn, and he ducked his head more hoping to hide his face. Apparently he could blush harder.

"Inuzuka Hana," he replied in a small voice.

When the only response to this was the steady tap, tap, tap of the teacher's finger on wood, he peeked up from beneath his lashes to find her starring narrow-eyed at the wall behind him deep in thought. The silence allowed Iruka a moment to gain control over the blood that had rushed to his cheeks. With the lessening of the rouge his skin returned to its normal browned tint, but in exchange his stomach was once again tying itself into knots.

Finger stilling mid-tap, the teacher's gaze turned to bore into his own. She arched one steel colored brow before speaking, her voice dripping with irony. "My worst student thinks he can train one of my best."

Iruka felt his cheeks flame again, but his embarrassment was overrun by disappointment. She was going to refuse him. He wouldn't be able to train that young girl who had managed to bring back his lighter memories of Momi-chan. Before…

He starred down at his hands, wishing the tears and weakness away. Why did he cry so much? Had he always been this weak? He didn't think so, but how was he supposed to stop?

"I expect you to be here by 8 every morning that you don't have a mission." Iruka's head snapped up in shock forgetting his glistening eyes. "If after classes you wish to work with Hana, that will be between her, you, and the girl's mom. I will speak to Sandaime, and he will make certain that you get paid for your time here at the academy."

"W-what?" He asked, dumbfounded. "But…why?!"

"I will also speak with Inuzuka-san about your arrangement with her daughter," she continued her hands folded primly upon the table. At his look of elation, Yoko-sensei cut him a quick glare. "I still expect you to talk to the bitch as well." Both the boy's mouth and eyes widened at the insult, but Yoko-sensei merely smirked slightly. "Well? What are you waiting for? An escort?"

Iruka sat in shock for another moment before realization dawned on him. This was real! She had agreed to his proposal. If she had added stipulations to it, so what? He was still able to keep the promise he had made. It was nearly unbelievable, and Iruka felt the strangest urge to pinch himself to make sure he hadn't hit his head falling down the steps earlier and was now dreaming all this.

With a whoop of joy, he launched himself across the table, latching onto his former sensei. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so very much, sensei!" Iruka felt the body that had stiffened at his 'attack' slowly relax before a hand was awkwardly patting his back.

Gently, the teacher pushed him off her, and said in a gruff voice, "yes, yes, your happy. Now get going before I change my mind."

Iruka saluted her with a huge grin plastered across his face before dashing out of the room.

In his wake he left an old woman who sat before two half-filled tea cups as she dabbed at her eyes with her sleeves. "Damn dust…," she muttered to herself before picking up both discarded drinks, and carrying them to the sink. She stared at the wall before her, and, once again, her eyes misted over. "Damn…," she whispered thickly as she once again tried to dry her eyes.

That was the first real smile she'd seen from the teen since his teammates' deaths.

With a growl, she set about cleaning the cups using the sort of concentration she reserved only for verbal sparring matches. A grin creased the old woman's face. This gave her a reason to go nag the old coot, and with that in mind, she made a quick hand seal only to vanish in a poof off smoke.

AN: Yoko is taken from yokai which is the word used for demons, ghosts, and the like.

Also, I've been considering not posting this because it's more like a scene than a chapter, but I figured that the one person who 'alerted' this fic would appreciate it, even if it is shorter than I would like. Though it's only a page shorter than the first one….Yeah.

Hope you enjoyed. Reviews are appreciated. If you notice something needs fixed, be it a typo, plot hole, confusing turn of phrase, whatever, feel free to point it out, and I'll see if I can't fix it.


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